ATTEMPTS to improve facilities for young people in York are set to take a major leap forward.

York’s education boss Carol Runciman says plans for a new youth centre for teenagers will be complete by the end of March.

City of York Council wants money under the Government’s Myplace scheme, to boost facilities for young people.

The council missed a previous deadline to bid for funding, prompting concern the city may lose out, but Coun Runciman says a bid will be submitted in the next round. She said: “Our bid will be ready by March 31, but we cannot say when it will be submitted, because the Government has not given a deadline yet.”

A local community architect, Phil Bixby, has been appointed to help take the project forward, and is continuing consultations with young people. Paul Murphy, the council’s assistant director for partnerships and early intervention, has hailed the scheme as a great chance to boost York’s youth services.

In a report to go before councillors next week, he writes: “For those associated with young people’s services in York, the fund offers an ideal opportunity to plug an undoubted gap in our facilities; a high-quality city centre place for young teenagers to meet and socialise, to complement the advisory services at Castlegate.”

He says there has been a comprehensive consultation with young people and a thorough search for suitable sites.

The Railway Institute has been touted as the preferred option, but other sites are also being looked at, including the Joseph Rowntree Library building in Haxby Road.

In his report, Mr Murphy says a “less ambitious” project than that planned for the Railway Institute may have to be adopted.

Coun Dave Merrett, Labour’s education spokesman, highlighted the council’s “continuing failure” to submit a suitable Myplace bid.

He said: “The council should be using the opportunity the delay in the next funding phase has presented to gear up and get its act together to get a proper bid in and not backtracking and going for half measures.”

The matter will be discussed by the council’s young people’s working group on Thursday.